Preserved Topic: Maybe a shock to most christians...

Just found this information (don't know just how accurate it is) that could possibly upset a couple of christians... http://www.earth-history.com/earth1.htm

Bugger me! All of the text on that page is centered. How the hell did you even manage to read it in the first place!

My eyes hurt.

Yeah, have to admit it's a hard read...but very interesting, especially the part about the locations of the Isrealis (i.e. that they didn't come from Palastine, but out of Saudia Arabia...)

Yeah, that was interesting. Although I would like to know if it's credible, because I'm not really as familiar as I'd like to be with early Christianity.

John D.

humans!!! ya gotta to love em! heh

I dunno. It says "A *Theory* about..." at the top of the page. I'm more inclined to take the side of a book that historians trust. (I'm sure the majority of historians don't trust the Bible as far as it's religious aspects go, but as far as the history goes, it's very much relied upon.)

I didn't read the whole thing though. I'm just throwing in a real quick opinion.

By the way, john_dough, your "from" information contains no spaces: "Somewhere,Northern,Hemisphere" and it's stretching the left-hand table cells, reducing the area that holds content. Could you do me (and other people with small resolutions or non-maximized browsers) a favor and put spaces after the commas so that it's "Somewhere, Northern, Hemisphere"? That way the words will word-wrap. Thanks =)

Sorry bout that I wasn't really paying attention. I hope this is more user friendly.

John D.

Yeah, maybe 2 Xians might get upset at that page.

But seriously, it has all the makings of a typical conspiracy theory type approach to things. He certainly does have a lot of facts that I accept on that page so it's not like he hasn't done plenty of homework. In order to get the conspiracy theory rolling, you state several facts that are widely accepted and then bring up a few questions that tempt the reader into thinking there has been some sort of big mistake or better yet a cover-up.

The big mistake in this case is that the Jews somehow forgot that they really originated in Asir instead of Palestine. I think that's very interesting given the amount of archaeological work that has been done in Palestine and how much of it has corroborated Biblical geographies. But then he covers his butt by saying that we can't dig in Saudi Arabia and that's why it can't be proven... yet

The cover up he suggests is that Jews at a later date discovered this but somehow managed to hide this fact from the world? All except this guy of course. That kills me.

Check this one out, he says, "Remember also that the Apostles (Jews) had many arguments with Paul (Roman) about the way to believe in Jesus and other subjects regarding the way to explain the old Testament."

Paul wasn't Roman! He was Jewish, from the tribe of Benjamin. And Paul was also an Apostle. This is a *big* error that seriously casts a shadow on this guy's credibility.

I read the whole page and I wasn't too worried for the faith after having done so.

. . : newThing

No, I wasn't sure on the accuracy...just thought it was interesting, esp. the part on the Origin of the Jewish people (where, which land, etc.). To this day, I'm not sure where they originally came from...and the bible is also not to clear on this...for example, where is the garden of Eden? And in what land did the Jews go to after the expulsion (from the garden)? Also, after Kain kills his brother, it states that he goes to the 'land of nod'. Where is that?

Slime - so far as I know, there are not many historians that rely on the bible anymore, seeing as so many of the details of the bible as a historic document have come under great dispute and/or been disproven (while the general gist of the story may be true, it quite clear that many factual details of many stories were either somewhat embellished, altered intentionally for dramatic or religeous effect, etc..).

However, there is a bit too much "theory" and "speculation" in that article to say that it is any more factual than the biblical accounts (IMO).

well, considering that orthodox catholicism came from some dudes in greece that decided to translate some weird book (and did a pretty lousy job. Among other things, there is no specification in the original articles that virgin mary was a virgin, the hebraic word for "young woman" was translated to the greek word for "virgin" (fact)) i really dont give a damn at what speculations are made around such an insignificant thing. like someone once said: if you really want the sun in your eyes, take off those damn sunglasses

Thanks for the laugh, Arthemis! It's good to know you have a sense of humor. The idea that Roman Catholicism somehow came from a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures by Hellenistic Jews put a smile on my face.

And I agree that the Septuagint translates "almah" as "parthenos". But you can't say that Matthew's use of the word was mistranslated.

Didn?t upset me a bit. The whole concept of Christianity is "faith".

Dark

If the *whole* concept of Xianity was 100% faith, I wouldn't be a Xian. I don't understand why anyone else would either.

quote:

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All places that are named in the Bible are still familiar in this province (Asir) of Saudi Arabia, including Jerusalem. Most of the Biblical places are, even in the present day, still not found in Palestine.

---

I would like to actually read that and see what he is talking about. That just sounds weird to me.

I accidently hit my right mouse and I think it is funny that he disabled it! Why?

Can you give me some clue as to this Bugs? I don't think I quite understand where he is coming from.

Later,
C:\


~Binary is best~

hmmm.... probably to cover up all that gar-nasty code! yeesh.

. . .

Hmmm...this is very irritating....I can't seem to find any maps or names in the Asir of Saudi Arabia region....why is that? Anybody else? I've done massive searches, but to no avail. I find names of cities, etc, but only for the middle/northern sections of Saudi Arabia. And these names are all 'new' names, from the times of the Saudi kings...there doesn't seem to be any resources from before that...and that irritates me. How can I make a decision of whether or not this auther has a point? If anybody else manages to find something, please post it.

The Land of Nod? Isn't that a saying meaning he went to sleep?

Koan 63:
Those who Believe
Can
Those who Try
Do
Those who Love
Live

I dont know about all of this, it sounds like something that someone wrote to stir up controversy, annnnnd, (I'm a chrisitan) a lot of the stuff in their about the bible that he said isn't true. Oh well.

"People who think they know everything are really just an annoyance to those of us who really do"

-counterfeitbacon

bugimus, there there, you can keep the sunglasses, no need to hassle
*smirk*

Oi.

I'm about as athiestic and irrevereant as they come....but the fact remains that much of what this guy wrote is as much interpretive specualtion as I feel most christian interpretations of biblical passages are.

There is also the fact that much of what has been long held as fact based on biblical history and shoddy archaeology has come under harsh scrutinization, not only by non-jews and non-christians, but in fact form some notable jewish and christian scholars. Some of the issues do in fact involve the currently held borders that were "restored" based on poor interpretations of biblical history.

However......if *ever* I've met a christian who is educated and open mimded, it is Bugimus. And although I disagree strongly with his faith, he is hardly one to accept without question, or to hide behind "sunglasses" as it were.

~shrug~ for what it's worth...

Amen.

So Bugs, where you at? Have you managed to find any information on this?

Yes, look on this map just South of Mecca and you will see the faded name "Asir". That coincides with the region the author is talking about.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_middle_east/saudi_arabia.jpg

I've been reading some Bible commentaries on biblical geography and looking at some archaeological magazines about what Biblical locations have been uncovered in Palestine.